It was a fortuitous twist of fate when in the 1990s Ben Olewine, IV signed up for a multi-day field trip on forest management and the effects on birds and their habitats. The excursion connected Ben with then- chairman Cliff Jones, who ultimately persuaded him to consider service at the Sanctuary.

Soon after, Ben joined Cliff on the board of directors, served on the science and education committees, and quickly developed a strong belief in the power of Hawk Mountain and its international Conservation Science Training Program.

“I saw the value and the impact,” he explains, “and Hawk Mountain demonstrated that a relatively small organization can make a global impact.”

Ben believed in the vision and reach of this critically-needed training, as well as the need to support trainees after they leave Hawk Mountain.

“Young people come to the Sanctuary, are trained, and go home, but often they need seed money to start their own conservation projects and careers. Hawk Mountain needed to help get them started,” he explains.

With his family, Ben did just that. With his father, the Harrisburg-based wholesale food giant and beloved civic leader and philanthropist, Ben Olewine III, Ben and his family established the Benjamin Olewine IV Project Soar Awards using funds annually from the Olewine Family Trust.

Since 2003, Ben and his family have faithfully provided support for seed grants, and Hawk Mountain each year uses the funds to jumpstart careers in conservation for the best and brightest graduates. Adrian Naveda, for instance, immediately returned to Venezuela to launch a turkey vulture monitoring program (pictured), while Karen Aghababian and Vasil Ananian studied Levant sparrowhawks in Armenia. Matias Juhant studied molt and migration behavior in South American raptors, while Corinne Kendall of the United States monitored the movements of East African vultures in the Great Rift Valley of the Maasai Mara National Reserve.

A businessman by nature, Ben enjoyed an illustrious consulting career in business development and marketing for some of the world’s most iconic brands, but his heart has long since been held by conservation and, in particular, bird conservation. In fact, following his “retirement” from his business career, Ben spent nearly ten years on the board and as treasurer of BirdLife International, where he focused on conservation philanthropy and spent several months abroad each year as part of his “volunteer” work.

Hawk Mountain is proud that Ben considers the Sanctuary and Project Soar a priority, so much so, that he made plans to ensure the funds continue in perpetuity. Recently, Ben shared his intent to name Hawk Mountain the benefactor of an IRA that will provide Benjamin Olewine IV Project Soar Grants for generations to come.

“I know the training program is effective and I know that Hawk Mountain is cost-effective. This support provides a tremendous bang for the buck, in terms of what can be accomplished. It will make a tremendous impact.”

Hiking up to North Lookout on my first day, as a summer education intern, wasn’t the first time I made that journey. It probably wasn’t even the 10th time. I have been able to make the journey countless times because I am lucky enough to call Hawk Mountain Sanctuary my backyard. Since I live in the small town of New Ringgold that you can see from North Lookout, Hawk Mountain is no stranger to me.

Yet, this summer, I got to make the drive up Hawk Mountain Road everyday to experience this place from a whole new perspective. Being the “local” intern this summer, I was already aware of the River of Rocks bolder fields and the incredible views from the lookouts. However, I wasn’t aware of the world-class research that goes on at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. From the Farmland Raptor Project to working globally with other scientists to butterfly migration to educating kids, this special place that I have grown up going to my whole life is the leader in all the techniques and practices I have been studying while at West Virginia University.

Karissa holding a recently tagged American kestrel chick.

Even though I was technically an education intern, I was always being invited to help tag black vultures or band American kestrels with the conservation scientist and trainees. There are some things that can’t be taught in a classroom, and getting to work along biologists at Hawk Mountain, such as J.F. Therrien, Laurie Goodrich, and David Barber, were some of those experiences. Since all the biologists and researchers at the Sanctuary have expertise in different fields of study, I felt lucky to have been able to have conversations with each of them about what they are accomplishing.

Karissa assisting a young visitor during a Wee One’s program.

As an education intern, I spent most of my time working on the top of the mountain, leading excursions with groups of all ages and from all different backgrounds. Being able to share your knowledge and passion for conservation with children and adults, who may live in cities or might not know about the power of preservation of raptors, other wildlife, and ecosystems found in the Appalachian area, is the greatest feeling. You can learn a lot from mistakes you make. Watching the way that educators Erin Brown, Rachel Taras, Andrea Ambrose, and Jamie Dawson work with kids and through kids taught me about how I aspire to be as an educator.

Hawk Mountain has taught me how to work with a community of scientists and educators from various backgrounds. This notable place has provided me with an immense amount of hands-on research and fieldwork, and it reminds me every day why I study and strive to be a better scientist and educator. I have been so fortunate to work at a place that my 10-year-old self would visit on those fall days to watch the migrating birds with my school group. I never would have anticipated that I would have a chance to work at a place that I have always considered my home among the hills.

Cyrus at Hawk Mountain's South Lookout, which is ADA-accessible via the Silhouette Trail.

Today we're honored to introduce Hawk Mountain Hero Dr. Cyrus Klingsberg, whose generosity of spirit and financial resources made the vision of an accessible trail go from concept to reality.

A retired senior scientist at the Department of Energy, Cyrus has published dozens of articles and lectured abroad, but during his downtime, he and his late wife Vera enjoyed nature and the movement of birds. The two were long-time Hawk Mountain members.

“Vera was the ‘real’ birder,” he laughs, and while her favorite species may have been the tiny chickadee, she also loved to monitor the southbound movement of raptors. That is, until mobility issues held her back and left her sitting inside the Visitor Center.

“That’s when I became her eyes,” says Cyrus.

“I would visit the Lookout, make observations, and then report back to her what I’d seen and heard. I always wished she could have joined me.”

After her death, Cyrus learned about the idea of an accessible trail that connected visitors to the South Lookout and wished that such a trail had been available for his wife.

“Accessibility is such an obvious need,” he said at the time. “An accessible trail would open the Sanctuary to a whole group of people,” he added. People like Vera.

A year later, Hawk Mountain opened its first accessible pathway since its founding in 1934. The grand opening was held July 26, 2015, on the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Joining Cyrus in funding this project were the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Berks County Commissioners through the Community Development Block Grant Program, the Schuylkill County Commissioners, and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Alfred A. Douglass III and Family also provided funds to upgrade the Laurelwood Niche as an accessible outdoor learning space.

But it was Cyrus who launched the campaign, put plans on the fast-track, and essentially sealed the deal.

The 900-foot-long trail is wide enough to allow for two wheelchairs to pass one another and bends in a wide, graceful arc through the forest at a grade that does not exceed 8.3%, keeping the slope below the federal guidelines for national parks. Other enhancements include benches for rest every 100 feet, accessible trail-side restrooms, upgrades to the Laurelwood Niche outdoor classroom, and improvements at the South Lookout viewing platform.

In 2016, the trail was renamed the Silhouette Trail to match the trail-side gallery of life-size, in-flight raptor silhouettes. A brochure describing each is available at the trail entrance, and the exhibit changes twice a year.

The following year, the Sanctuary received the International Trail Accessibility Award during the annual International Trails Symposium held every other May. The award recognizes a trail project that successfully integrates accessibly into its design and construction.

Accolades aside, there’s no doubt that the trail has connected more people than ever before with nature, which was always the overarching goal. For Cyrus, though, it was always about Vera.

“I’m glad that I am able to support the work of Hawk Mountain in a way that lets me honor the memory of my wife at the same time,” he says.

Very few people get to experience the Mountain at night. Trekking through the rocky understory in near pitch black was one of the coolest experiences I had while interning at Hawk Mountain. I had never before experienced the outdoors like I did that night.

I was born and raised in New York City—the furthest you could get from the rugged outdoors of the mountain. Nonetheless, I grew up loving the outdoors and was fascinated by animals and nature. When the opportunity arose to help organize an exclusive night hiking event, I jumped on it.

The special guest we arranged to come speak before the hike was Charles Adams, author of Ghost Stories of Berks County. He spoke about the paranormal activity and “spirals of energy” that exist on Mountain. It was a fantastic way for me to learn about the history of the place that I called home for three months. That night, as stories were being divulged, it started drizzling right above our group of guests in the Laurelwood Niche, but nowhere else on the Mountain. On all four sides, you could see the lining of where the raincloud stopped and the civil twilight sky stretched beyond. Intriguingly, the rain only lasted as long as the stories did. Once the hike started, the clouds broke way to stars.

At night, your senses come to life. Madi, a former Hawk Mountain education intern, challenged us to focus on our senses other than sight to help guide us on the walk up to North Lookout. While headlamps were allowed, guests only used them on a red light setting to help enhance night vision. However, since we were short one headlamp, I gave mine to one of the other hikers, and that’s when the adventure really began. The trails I thought I knew well became a puzzle with no light. I had never been challenged in this way before. Climbing and scrambling over rocks in the pitch black had my blood rushing. I found myself having to rely primarily on my sense of touch, feeling out the next step I would take, steadying myself on the rocks and trees beside me, and shifting my center of gravity to retain my balance.

The dusk view from the South Lookout, before they headed up to North Lookout..

The adrenaline of the hike was calmed when we reached the lookouts. With so little light pollution and our eyes well-adjusted to the darkness, we could see hundreds of stars dotting the sky. Everyone remained quiet, taking in the stillness of the night. We didn’t arrive back to the parking lot until past 11pm. By 9am the next morning, I was back up the Mountain leading a school group up to the Lookout.

A few weeks after the excitement, I noticed a quote sitting on my supervisor's desk, “And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” After spending three months on the Mountain, I don’t think John Muir couldn’t have said it any better.

Zoe hosting an outdoor portion of the July Wee Ones Walk for children ages 3-5.

The world’s very first refuge for birds of prey attracts diverse individuals, and we welcome nature lovers, hikers, hawk watchers, native plant enthusiasts, autumn leaf peepers, and conservationists alike. Traditional school students explore our "school in the clouds" and eat lunch at North Lookout while eavesdropping on the hawk counters during the spring and autumn migration seasons. As a staff member, I’ve witnessed visitors become hypnotized by the magic of raptor migration, old friends reunite over trail mix, and first-time visitors fall in love with the landscape and our global mission. Every visitor encounter reminds me that Hawk Mountain Sanctuary is a very special place and how important it is to preserve special places.

Recently, several groups with special needs investigated the Mountain through an array of multisensory experiences. Students ranging in age from elementary to young adults from Saint Joseph’s Center for Special Learning located in Pottsville, Schuylkill County, and students with visual impairment from the Vision Resource Center of Berks County visited the Sanctuary. As a licensed elementary and special education teacher, my understanding of multiple intelligences, learning styles, and differentiated instruction allows me to offer accommodations that meet the needs of diverse learners.

The Wings of Wonder downstairs gallery provided space to spread our own wings and flap like a falcon, soar like a buteo, and glide effortlessly like a turkey vulture A.K.A Bloodhound of the Sky.

The love of teaching and learning, enthusiasm and encouragement allows educators to provide special experiences. Hawk Mountain's programming is inspired to connect ALL visitors with Appalachian forest ecology, highlighting raptors as important bio-indicators of healthy ecosystems. To do this, students were offered an array of sensory experiences including touching feathers, snake skin, turtle shells, and mammal fur. We listened to recordings of the most commonly seen raptor in North America, the red-tailed hawk. Students listened while I waved wings of diurnal hawks in comparison to silent owl wings. Touching the feathered foot of a great-horned owl and carefully examining the scaly toes of a hawk allowed everyone to feel sharp and pointy talons and learn how they serve as tools for catching, gripping and killing prey. It amazed me how engaged everyone was for the entire presentation.

A stroll through the Native Garden offered sounds of green frogs, buzzing pollinators, and songbirds, before heading across the road for more outdoor exploration. Leaving the garden, we enjoyed the aroma of native swamp rose and the faint scent of sunscreen and insect repellant wafting by our group. Channeling our inner turkey vulture, we engaged our olfactory senses and, without hesitation, students shared their thoughts on smelling cigarette smoke and approval of smelling fresh baked bread. Several kids decided to give the turkey vulture a nickname: Bloodhound of the Sky. I approved.

Edwardo helps to illustrate raptor adaptations for his classmates. Since he has family in Mexico, Edwardo was thrilled to learn about our sister site in Veracruz, also known as the River of Raptors!

Finally, we entered the accessible Silhouette Trail, connecting the trailhead to Laurelwood Niche and South Lookout, allowing all students to explore the ridgetop with ease. As a team, many navigated the trail with the help of wheelchairs and therapeutic personal assistants, others relied on canes or following the voice and arm leading them forward. Instead of ignoring the various tiny bumps and lumps under our feet and wheels, we examined tiny acorn caps, oak tree galls, and snail shells. These extraordinary students reminded me of the importance of appreciating the small things like looking out my window and seeing the lush, green leaves wave at me in the breeze. As we sat in peaceful silence at South Lookout, we felt the warmth of the sun peeking through the forest canopy and enjoyed breathing fresh, unpolluted mountaintop air. No one wanted to leave.

The students said that Hawk Mountain was their favorite place on earth, and I agreed. Every visit makes a difference, and we thank you for your continued support.

Stop and Look

When I first set foot on the mountain top as Hawk Mountain’s new spring education intern, I wanted to explore and embrace the land that would become my home for the coming months. I arrived in the early morning on a cold February day, and at that time, the mountain was engulfed within a cloud. The world around me was shrouded in fog and shadows. As I wandered the trails around the sanctuary, I discovered statues and gardens that seemed to sleep under a blanket of snow in the grey pale morning. The amphitheatre, though empty, held a promise of spring days to come when it would be filled with visitors, eager to learn and see all that the mountain top has to offer.

I then decided to venture up towards the South Lookout. As I wandered up the path, I saw in the distance two posts at the trailhead. The posts stood erect with a single word written on each, ‘Stop’ and ‘Look’. The words themselves halted me in my path. I was impressed with the precise power of those two simple words. I began to reflect on those columns, their wise mantra filling me with excitement, curiosity and wonder. What laid in wait before me? What would I bear witness to on the misty mountain top? In that moment, I made a promise to myself that I would live and experience as much as I could in the coming months.

I wrote ‘Stop and Look’ 3 months ago, at the start of my internship. You can imagine my surprise and slight embarrassment when I realized that the posts in the story were actually just for a pedestrian road crossing. But in that moment those words held a higher meaning to me in both heart and mind. When I see them, they still hold that same meaning that they did on that misty morning. To me, they will forever be moving words of guidance for the wandering traveler.

Now summer is just around the corner. That cold breath of winter is a distant memory. This internship has truly gone by in a flash, and it was filled with plenty of twists and surprises. In the beginning, I promised myself that I would take it one step at a time because all too often we think only in terms of destinations and deadlines, missing the experience of the journey. In the blink of an eye the moment has past, and we are onto the next. This is why I believe that taking the opportunity to not only experience but document the finite and fleeting moments in life is so important.

Some people may let landscapes inspire them to create art in forms of poetry, drawings, photography. One person's art can even become a muse for others seeking inspiration. Others prefer to chronicle sightings or the changes that they notice in the world around them. Birders in particular keep detailed lists of sightings in hopes of tracking the seasonal movements of animals or the growth of plants. I recently met a 3 year old with his very own life list and was very impressed to see him identifying songbirds at our bird feeders with his grandmother. This boy would grow up with an appreciation and understanding of the world around him that many of his peers would not. These catalogs help us to see the beautifully intricate patterns that surround us as the years go by.

Whether you find yourself on the mountain top for reasons of inspiration, enrichment, or investigation, there’s bound to be something amazing for all to find. So bring your camera, or a notepad and try some new form of expression. Let the world around inspire you, and experience your moment for what it is: one of a kind.

Hawk Mountain and the Kittatinny Ridge are part of a global super-highway for bird migration. If you've been to the Sanctuary during fall, you have probably witnessed the grandeur of diurnal raptors migrating south. Hawk Mountain was the first in the fight to protect these apex aerial predators that are such an important part of a healthy ecosystem, but where does their ecosystem start and stop?

On May 13, I slipped into the woods behind my home which lies at the base of the Kittatinny. I’ve been a naturalist my entire life, and connecting with the land, especially where I live, is vitally important to me. It’s these adventures that help satisfy my desire to understand and immerse myself within my local surroundings. My goal was simple: connect with the land where I live and hike to the top of the ridge. What I discovered along that hike was amazing.

Our woods are under pressure from both man-made and natural disturbance. New homes and other development fragments the forest, and in recent years, the tress here have suffered from repeated assaults by gypsy moths, leaf rollers, and periods of sustained drought. The result is a die-back in some areas of 60% of the chestnut oaks, which provide food in the form of caterpillars for migrating and nesting birds in the spring and act as an important mast crop for many of our resident wildlife populations during colder months.

As I ascended a series of escarpments that were strewn by boulder rubble, I realized that while the boulders make for difficult hiking, they also create a barrier to dissuade development. I also noted many areas where the overstory trees had died back, and beneath the looming skeleton trees, the new regeneration on the ground was the greatest. With death comes life. It was in such an area where I stumbled across what I can only describe as a super-cell of Neo-tropical migrating birds.

In a pocket where the overstory had died back and the understory was almost too dense to walk, I came upon a spot of auditory overload. Never in my life have I heard so many birds call simultaneously. A raptor flew overhead, causing hundreds of birds to drop into the forest surrounding me, in an effort to find refuge.

Photo by Bill Moses.

Hawk Mountain by location is connected to the Canadian Arctic and Alaska down through Central and South America by birds that breed here in North America and over-winter in the southern United States, Central America, and South America. Every moment and every day is different for those birds, and each year they survive the changes, man-made or otherwise, that are created across the landscape where they live.

Our annual raptor migration counts, the longest such record in the world, are just part of our story. We find and collaborate with the best and the brightest young minds in raptor conservation around the globe and invite them to Hawk Mountain to hone their skills as raptor conservation scientists. To date we have worked with 409 trainees from 80 different countries on six continents. These are the people that are shaping global raptor conservation. We continue to collaborate with others and work with all of the significant raptor migration corridors around the globe. In recent months our scientists have been from the Canadian Arctic to South Africa, from Taiwan to the straits of Gibraltar, and our education team has collaborated with colleagues from Zimbabwe, Ghana, and the United Kingdom.

Our main goals include working to keep common raptors common and to prevent rare raptors from becoming extinct. By shining the conservation spotlight on raptors, we help to protect raptors and the ecosystems where they live. Raptors in turn act as an umbrella, protecting other birds and wildlife that live within the same regions where these vital predators live, breed, migrate, and overwinter. Birds, like the hundreds I encountered during my walk, benefit.

This year is being coined the “Year of the Bird,” and Hawk Mountain, by the very nature of the work that we do, is perhaps the most cost-effective organization leading the charge in conservation science. If you share my passion for raptors and other wildlife, I encourage you to become a member, act as a volunteer, or donate in support of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and our mission. And of course, stop by for a visit! I hope to see you out on that global super-highway of life.

Christine and a fellow trainee identify passing raptors for visitors at South Lookout

Audible gasps could be heard from the hardy group of hawk watchers, both seasoned and beginners, as the third golden eagle of the day passed in front of a vibrant rainbow on its way south. It was a windy and cloudy day in late October at the Sanctuary, with northwest winds creating perfect conditions for a memorable eagle flight.

This day was the best kind of day for me at North Lookout, with a steady stream of birds and people; hardly a minute went by without someone calling out a passing raptor or migrating shorebird. In that moment, I remembered describing Hawk Mountain to people before I left Massachusetts, gushing about how excited I was to see the raptors streaming down the ridge (some even at eye-level!), quoting migration statistics from the website and describing the different species I would see. It turned out to be everything I hoped it would be and more, because the knowledge I had gained during my time as a Conservation Science Trainee had forever changed the way I perceived raptors and the world around me.

Even before I arrived at Hawk Mountain, I had been learning about raptors and conservation science, but it all intensified as soon as I arrived on the Mountain. Rather than spending my senior year of high school taking the only three classes remaining after my 60+ credit junior year, I had decided to follow my passion for conservation to a place where I could actually learn how to contribute to it.

As soon as we arrived, that goal was met. The next four months were filled with books, papers, seminars about different research techniques and statistical analysis software, and a lecture series with speakers from all around the world.

At first, I was intimidated by all I had to learn, but then I figured out one of the biggest advantages to the interpretation aspect of the traineeship: being asked to answer questions about any and every facet of what I was learning. This allowed me to think critically about all of the information I was learning and ultimately to understand it better. I had heard before that the best way to learn something was to teach it, but this experience really made that lesson take on a life of its own for me. Guests would ask me questions that were more in depth than I had considered, and this often made me think about things from a different perspective. I would end my days on the Lookout by rushing down the Mountain to immediately look up some fact that I had not considered before.

I could not have hoped for a more comprehensive learning experience, or an experience that would truly show me the importance of education in conservation.

Due to the lessons I learned at Hawk Mountain, I now know from first-hand experience how crucial it is not only to get local people involved in your conservation effort, but to get them invested. If people do not care about what you are doing or why, they will not continue to help you. Being able to education people on the importance of raptors and help them to see what people who spent their lives trying to conserve them were seeing, was an experience I feel very grateful to have had.

At the beginning of this year, Sean Grace arrived on the Mountain as the new president of the Sanctuary. Read below to learn more about his background and what his plans for this position.

1. Tell us about your previous experiences that have led you here to Hawk Mountain.

I've always been very passionate about the natural world and I learned that right away from the time I was a very young person, and that led to a strong connection with nature that includes raptors.

I grew up in MA, and through my explorations, I became very connected to the Assabet River, and the section where I lived was the Mill Pond. I knew every square inch of that for many miles, upstream and downstream. I would go down there to fish, and that connected me with birds and wildlife. Those explorations were pretty formative for me as a child. I also had experiences with my mom feeding birds, and I got my first birding field guide from my mom.

When I went to school for my undergrad, I decided to do the practical thing and majored in business management. I always had this strong connection with nature, enjoying hiking and backpacking and outdoor pursuits so when I finished school, I matched my personal interests with my scholastic training and started a career in outdoor retail. I worked first for Eastern Mountain Sports and then Blue Ridge Mountain Sports, both in New Jersey.

At a certain point, when I had been with Eastern Mountain Sports, I was able to take advantage of this program where I could take a 3-month sabbatical. I travelled out west and ended up at a place called the Teton Science School, and the director at the time, Jack Shay, invited me out to take the winter ecology course for free, if I could get the plane ticket. It was a two week course that was always scheduled after Christmas, so of course, working in outdoor retail, I couldn't leave then.

Eventually, I decided to take a left turn in life, and I applied to the Teton Science School (TSS) grad program and got in. I did 34 graduate credits through Utah State University, but all of the work was actually done at TSS. It was a residential education facility, so groups would come in from anywhere from a week to five weeks. It was a fabulous experience, and I had opportunities to work on three different scientific research programs, including elk, coyote, and moose studies. It was simply the best $9 an hour job I could ever have.

I had met my wife-to-be while finishing my master's at the New Jersey School of Conservation, so I decided to come back east and put my life as a wildlife guide to the side. I then ran the operations for Blue Ridge Mountain Sports for a couple of years in New Jersey as a District Manager. I liked this experience because I learned all of the practical aspects of business. I was working with people and learning about their adventures.

An opportunity came up to run the Plainsboro Preserve for New Jersey Audubon. When I came in it was their number three center in terms of educational volume, and in a couple of years we were number one. It was a great opportunity to design an entire educational platform. I had had many previous experiences, but my rule has always been to find what the community needs and then to build the program around that.

Sean with an American kestrel.

I had interviewed at the time for the National Audubon, and they came back with the opportunity to run the Sharon Audubon Center, which is comprised of four nature sanctuaries. At Sharon we did a whole diversity of things: we have a kestrel nest box program that we are a part of, we monitor close to 200 bluebird boxes, we had five different MAPS stations (mapping avian productivity and survivorship), and we had the wildlife rehabilitation unit.

One thing I want to point out about that: all of that work is all done through volunteer efforts. For me, it's really important to recognize the importance of volunteers. Even if we look at it here at Hawk Mountain, we have 18 employees, 25 board members, and about 250 volunteers. That really magnifies the ability for us to meet our mission. Everyone is here for the same reason, because they are passionate about that mission and what they do.

I was also the team leader of a forest program, the eastern forest work in the state of Connecticut. I launched that program about a month after I arrived. A big part of that was censusing the property by different habitats, essentially mapping it and documenting the avian populations present. In that realm, I am highly skilled: identifying species of birds by ear.

The magic of that program was the fact that you're giving that landowner their own private field trip on their own land. There was power in connecting people with their local wildlife and land.

All of these different opportunities, including fundraising and specific program responsibilities, lead me here to Hawk Mountain. I'm really excited just to be here and to embark on a new chapter. I can't wait to work with the team here; I want to listen, first and foremost, and learn what we do. Collaboratively we can move forward together and build off the platform we have.

2. What kind of leader are you, and what strategies will you bring to Hawk Mountain?

My strengths may lie in my diversity in experiences, because I have had to wear a lot of the hats that the members of this senior team wear. I understand the opportunities and the challenges, so I want to strategize and work collaboratively to bring the best out of what we already have here.

Hawk Mountain is this awesome organization that has an incredible reputation. Really good organizations are built because there are great and committed people that work there. I know that going in.

I'm definitely a person who likes to innovate; I like to strategize ways to keep improving. One of the things that I always strive to do, is look through the lense of the community, which can be done on multiple levels: our staff, board, volunteers, local visitors, national and global partners , etc. I'm invested in exploring all of those lenses and creating this network of supporters with those communities who are committed to our mission and to raptors. There is strong power at the intersection of people and raptors.

If we at Hawk Mountain "win" and are successful, then raptor populations and their habitats are successful, and then people as a whole are successful. It's an easy thing to come into work every day and be committed to. We can continue to be that beacon of light that's guiding those global successes from the top of Hawk Mountain.

3. Do you have anything you want to say to our supporters?

I'm here to listen. I like to meet people and hear what their connection is to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. I want to know what your interests are what opportunities you see for us. The best ideas come from within, and that includes our local community.

In April of 2017, I was preparing to graduate from Kutztown University. With only one month left, all of my remaining energy was focused on soaking up any knowledge and practice I could get out of my last few weeks of classes. My professors often encouraged us to find new languages and meanings for our artwork, but I was always focused on the question of how I was going to start an art career after school. Luckily for me, I had helpful advisers that suggested the first step: apply for the Hawk Mountain Artist Residency.

By August, I had moved into the Acopian Center for Conservation Learning alongside a few education interns and trainees. In the beginning of my two month stay, most of my time was spent driving and taking pictures. I photographed gas stations, overgrown backyards, and some quiet factories for reference. I was accustomed to painting in my familiar language—tattered, small town landscape—despite being surrounded by a grand new landscape full of life. But, as expected, plans change. I considered painting the sociopolitical exchange between Berks and Schuylkill inhabitants, but after a couple weeks, I realized that this was neither compelling nor could it be explained well without painting the people themselves. I was, however, still interested in the image of the two counties dividing the mountain in half, and how differently they appear. One was comforting and folksy with wide farm fields, and the other was commercial with numerous strip malls, restaurants and supermarkets. But something still felt missing.

Day by day, I did a mixture of drawing, hiking, painting, and photographing. Being a part of this environment, where every day the interns were discussing migration, the daily bird sightings, and the importance of conservation, I was noticing the small glimpses of life. I hiked the mountain on my own and observed that everyone, from the experienced birder to the novice visitor, was interested in learning about the raptors. All of this was new to me because, prior to my stay, wildlife painting was not as meaningful to me; yet now, I wanted to talk about it. I wanted to learn how raptors travelled, how they hunted, when I could see them. I knew that my paintings would have to focus on the migration.

When the interns returned to the residence, I would often ask them about the birds they saw that day. They told me what was travelling through the area and how to identify raptors, and I would look for them when I photographed. Unsurprisingly, certain birds would make their way into my paintings. Every new painting made me think about what bird was active at that time, or what kind of raptor would be common in the scene I was forming. For example, I labored for weeks on one watercolor that was filled with branches, flora and tall grass, but in this scene, I was drawn to a white fence that felt like a perfect place for something to be perched. I asked many of the resident scientists what would be seen sitting so obviously in the open, and was the right size for the fence. All of them agreed that a Coopers Hawk would be the perfect fit, so I painted a Cooper’s Hawk looming over its prey. It was finally concrete in my mind that all of my work was a spotlight on the raptors and the unique places they inhabit.

I decided to take advantage of my location and began painting on site. I painted at North Lookout a few times to make a rather simple but warm depiction of the rising sun. This inspired me to start painting the other lookouts and expand the flow of this series to include sites from the Mountain.

Each lookout, such as North Lookout, the Kettle View, the River of Rocks, and the Lookout Trail, offered insight into the geographic layout of the land. These sights from Hawk Mountain's own trails bind together the paintings from off the Mountain and showcase that raptors have traveled hundreds of miles to make a temporary home with us in our wildly varying landscape. This is the idea that countries, states, and counties are all sharing the opportunity to look up and experience the birds during migration, and now I have the opportunity to share those glimpses in visually compelling ways.

What the Sanctuary offered to me was an invested look into how birds are counted, identified, and studied every day. It taught me to be open-minded with my plans, and never closed off to changing my inspiration. I always felt that I painted subjects that were underappreciated, and now I know to keep my eyes up to the things that I myself have ignored. Thanks to the work of many, I can share what should be adored in the quiet Pennsylvania landscape of Hawk Mountain, and a new love of wildlife and narrative. Hawk Mountain Sanctuary brings joy to visitors on a daily basis, and I am proud to say that now, I can bring this joy wherever I go.

- - -

Come and experience the incredible series of work that Abby created during her time at the Sanctuary at her art show entitled "Sharing the Birds," which will be on display in the Hawk Mountain Visitor Center Gallery from August 19 to September 15, 2018. It will be free and open to the public.